In 2020, Flint Hills Resources, the previous owner of the Shell Rock ethanol plant (and a wholly owned subsidiary of Koch Industries) added technology to increase the amount of protein in the grain byproducts used for animal feed. However, Flint Hills underestimated the amount of pollutants created by the process. As a result, the facility released 27 times (at a minimum) of the permitted amount of volatile organic compounds (VOC) and 9 times the EPA permitted amount of acetaldehyde, a known cancer causing agent. POET bought the plant in 2021 but didn’t discover the problems until last year. It took Poet two years to figure out the release was happening – to their credit, they switched that part of the plant operations through the appropriate filters and reported themselves to the Iowa DNR.
So, that’s three years’ worth of released carcinogens and irritants into our air. And we don’t know how many tons of acetaldehyde were released. That’s right, TONS! In 2022, the Shell Rock ethanol plant released nearly 10 tons of acetaldehyde, the 10th highest among the over 200 biofuel plants in the country (EPA 2022 Toxics Release Inventory). With this discovery, who knows how high their 2022 rank actually was. These plants are supposed to run their own stack tests for emission compliance and report the results to the DNR. Why didn’t Flint Hills or POET catch this issue before? It is clear the use of voluntary stack testing and compliance needs to be re-evaluated.
We need better monitoring and enforcement. The EPA and the DNR should require biofuel plants to install air pollution monitoring devices in their vicinity to monitor levels of air pollutants in addition to their internal controls. Advance warning would be provided to local communities when pollutants, like acetaldehyde, would be drifting nearby. The state of Iowa should also insist on mandatory monitoring instead of the current system of self-monitoring and reporting.
Enforcement should be a combination of fines and legal action. POET’s fine was $53,000, and that included the $10,000 fine from the DNR, which enforces Iowa environmental compliance. POET Bioprocessing generates billions of dollars in revenue every year – the amount paid in fines would be equal to a minor blip in their yearly maintenance budget. If the $10,000 fine sounds familiar, there was a liquid nitrogen fertilizer spill of about 265,000 gallons on March 11 by NEW Cooperative in Red Oak. The spill poured into a drainage ditch over a weekend, finding its way into the East Nishnabotna River and killing all the fish downstream for 50 miles. Their fine from the DNR for this major environmental disaster – $10,000.
$10,000 is the highest fine the DNR can levy. Why not higher? As I mentioned, our current emission compliance system is built on self-monitoring. If the fines were higher, we run the risk of more non-compliance results being buried by the negligent companies. In 2005, Governor Vilsack vetoed a law for this reason when the legislature tried to raise the fine to $25,000 without changing the compliance system. Former AG Tom Miller commented at the time that the threat of a state lawsuit was the real deterrent since the DNR could refer any non-compliance issues to the Attorney General’s office for further legal action and the potential assessment of higher fines. With that in mind, the State Environmental Protection Commission voted in May to refer the New Cooperative fertilizer spill on the East Nishnabotna River to the Iowa Attorney General’s Office.
Of course, this deterrent only works if the AG’s office has the fortitude to actually charge offenders with heftier fines and penalties in addition to the threat of taxpayer supported litigation. At this time, AG Brenna Bird has 11 noncompliance cases pending, 6 of which have had no action. This shouldn’t be a surprise since the AG office under Bird is more interested in pursuing multi-state culture war lawsuits against individual rights and fuel efficiency standards than protecting the water and air used by the citizens of the state of Iowa. It’s also not a surprise that the current Republican dominated legislature has shown no interest in beefing up the environmental compliance role of the DNR and has not increased funding or added staff.
Feel free to write and call AG Brenna Bird at the Attorney General’s office in Des Moines. Ask her to review and take up a case against POET. But I will remind you what we are up against. POET has partnered with Summit to put in those hazardous carbon pipelines across your land and add more ethanol plants. Republican power brokers and ethanol industry executives in Des Moines and elsewhere seem pretty committed to see those plant and pipeline construction projects through to completion. I have personal reservations as to whether AG Bird will ever take up any action against POET. And as I stand here now, I wonder what our air will be like if those new proposed ethanol plants go online with our current system of regulation. We need change in the Legislature to give the DNR the teeth and the resources needed to make a difference in our air and water quality and to hold the AG (and the ethanol industry) accountable. That starts with your vote in November.
-Dr. Shawn Ellerbroek
House District 57 Candidate
